Gas in WA: Exports 4 Introduction If Western Australia was a country, it would be the world’s third largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) after Qatar and the USA.1 Despite the huge amounts of gas produced in WA annually, recent media reports claim the state is heading for a gas shortage.2 How can WA be running short of gas when it is a globally significant producer? The answer is that th. [...] They consistently fail to meet requirements to reserve just 15% of the gas they produce for domestic use, instead choosing to use most of the gas for export.3 Disregard for the interests of Western Australians is evident not just in relation to the supply of gas, but also in relation to economic impacts and exacerbating the climate change that WA is already experiencing. [...] However, the final report of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the WA Domestic Gas Policy, comprehensively shows LNG producers have delivered only a fraction of their domestic gas obligations.19 The long-held assumption of secure WA domestic gas supply should not be applied to the NWS Extension, not only because of the findings of the Parliamentary inquiry, but also because its gas supply arrangement. [...] Contracts for exporting onshore gas at the NWS facility compete directly with domestic gas consumers and reduce the reserves of gas available to supply the domestic market into the future. [...] Sadly, with the planned expansion of several LNG facilities, the focus of energy policy in Western Australia looks to remain focused on facilitating the desires of multinational gas companies to expand their profits, rather than on the interests of the Western Australian community.
Authors
- Pages
- 19
- Published in
- Australia
Table of Contents
- The WA gas industry prioritises exports over 1
- 30 times more than the mining industry uses. 1
- The liquified natural gas industry in WA is at least 1
- 83 foreign owned. 1
- Woodsides North West Shelf Extension proposal 1
- Mark Ogge Rod Campbell Matt Saunders August 2024 1
- Summary 4
- Introduction 5
- Exports and WAs phony gas shortage 6
- Figure 1 Gas consumption in WA by sector 2022 6
- PJyear 6
- Exports LNG processing Non-LNG domestic use 6
- Who exports WAs gas 9
- Table 1 Company share of WA LNG projects 9
- Joint venture 9
- Share 9
- Project capacity 9
- Partner share of project capacity 9
- Partner- 9
- Project 9
- Mtpa LNG Mtpa LNG 9
- North West Shelf 9
- Pluto 9
- Gorgon 9
- Wheatstone 9
- Prelude 9
- Total 9
- Figure 1 Foreign ownership of WA LNG projects and share of export capacity. 10
- Foreign-owned 10
- Unknown 10
- Further expansion 12
- Figure 3 NWS Extension capacity and potential supply 16
- Figure 4 NWS Extension supply shortfall vs current WA domestic gas demand 17
- Conclusion 19
